


How You Get the Girl

by nazyalenskyism



Category: Nikolai Series - Leigh Bardugo, The Grisha Trilogy - Leigh Bardugo
Genre: F/M, Fluff, just bantering zoyalai, not angsty like the last few fics, she wants to smite him and he wants to kiss her for that, the usual
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-13
Updated: 2020-11-13
Packaged: 2021-03-09 21:34:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,049
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27533086
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nazyalenskyism/pseuds/nazyalenskyism
Summary: A modern AU based on the song, 'How You Get The Girl.' Nikolai tries to win Zoya back, but she's not going to forgive him so easily.
Relationships: Nikolai Lantsov/Zoya Nazyalensky
Comments: 2
Kudos: 21





	How You Get the Girl

**Author's Note:**

  * For [starlightzoya](https://archiveofourown.org/users/starlightzoya/gifts).



> Nikolai shows up on Zoya's doorstep asking for a second chance.

**Stand there like a ghost  
Shaking come the rain, rain  
She'll open up the door  
And say, are you insane  
Say it's been a long six months  
And you were too afraid to tell her what you  
want, want  
And that's how it works  
That's how you get the girl**

Nikolai pushed back his wet hair with one hand as he approached the bright red door of the townhouse. The stairs were slick, but he managed to keep his balance, his heart in his throat for reasons not related to personal injury. Well-- actually, considering what he was about to do, there might be some injuries to come. The seconds after his hand tapped the fox shaped knocker had his breath trapped in his chest with anticipation. _‘Am I really about to do this?’_ Just when he thought he couldn’t wait a second longer, the door was yanked open, piercing blue eyes digging into him. Oh, how he’d missed this luxury.

“What the hell is wrong with you?”

“It’s been a while, hasn’t it?”

“No Nikolai, believe it or, I remember very clearly the day you walked out of my life. And no, it hasn’t been ‘a while’. It’s been six months.”

He winced, “Nazyalensky, I know how it looks but, I just wanted to explain—“

“Explain? Explain what?” Her hands were on her hips now, venom behind her eyes, acid on her tongue. Oh, how he’d missed this. “You dumped me, and couldn’t even give me a reason that wasn’t bullshit. Whatever you have to say, I don’t want to hear it… whatever lie you took six months to come up with.”

“Zoya, I know. It’s like I told you, I was trying to protect my family’s reputation, my parents announced my engagement to someone else, and I’ve been spending all this time trying to find a way out of it. I know it’s not an explanation but, it’s the truth. I was too worried about my reputation.”

She snorted, “more like you were too much of a coward.”

Nikolai winced again, “yes, that too.”

“So?” Zoya asked, “why did you show up now? Why are you here?”

He paused. He knew why he was here, but if he came out and said, _‘Zoya, you’re the only person I’ve ever loved, and I was trying to fix this all so that I could finally marry you one day,’_ she would actually kill him on the spot. Since he couldn’t say that, he chose his next words carefully, thinking back to every novel he’d ever read, all his favourite movies. How did the hero get the girl? By giving a passionate speech in the rain, right? So far he was good for at least one of those two things. He took a breath, making sure that she was looking at him in the eye before he started, “Nazyalensky, I know what I did was terrible, and I don’t want your forgiveness. All I want is for you to know, that I just want a chance to right my wrongs, and I will wait as long as it takes.”

Zoya wrinkled her nose, “and why should I give you a chance?” Leaning her hip against the doorframe, she peered out into the lamplit night, “I think I can see more boys running around the corner, waiting for me to give them a chance. Tell me Lantsov, why should I forgive you after you broke my-- after you left me?” _‘After you broke my heart,’_ was that what she had been trying to say? He wanted to reach out and take her hand, pull her in close like he used to and convince her that he hadn’t meant to be the biggest jerk on the planet, that he was just trying to save their future, that he didn’t realize how much he’d hurt her.

“I don’t deserve a chance Zoya, but I’m asking you to give me one anyways.”

She looked him down, from head to toe, as if assessing how worthy he was of getting a chance. After the longest silence she’d ever made him suffer through, Nikolai could’ve sworn he saw just the tiniest bit of softness in her eyes, something she never showed anyone but him, and even then, only ever so often. Taking in a deep, she rolled her eyes, “maybe.”

“Maybe?” he mused, pushing more rain-soaked hair from his face.

“Maybe,” she said curtly. “Not yes, not no, just, maybe.”

“So, if I were to call you when I got home tonight?”

“I’ll maybe pick up the phone,” she glanced at her nails briefly, as if this conversation was beneath her. “If I’m not getting my beauty sleep by then.”

He grinned, “even without sleep you still look beyond radiant, Zoya dear.”

Zoya shot him a glare, “why are you still here? I told you, I need to go to sleep. Leave.”

He shot her one last wink as she slammed the door in his face, and he knew she must be chiding herself for even telling him maybe. Although she would probably be in a foul mood tonight, he certainly wouldn’t. It had stopped raining, he had no work the next morning, he wasn’t engaged any more, his parents were finally leaving him alone, and Zoya had told him _‘maybe.’_ he had never heard a word as sweet as that before. **‘Maybe’** wasn’t a yes, or a no. It was the hope of something better. He could work with maybe. With a swing in his drenched step, Nikolai found himself smiling all the way home, and by the time he’d curled up under the covers with his cat curled on the pillow next to him, he had a hundred different ideas on how to win Zoya back. To most others, the task would seem impossible, but to Nikolai it wasn’t even improbable. He would not let the last six months go to waste. _‘I’m going to convince her to take me back,’_ he thought to himself as he dialed her number. And despite the fact that she hadn’t picked up, Nikolai went to bed with a smile on his face. She’d only declined his call after four rings, instead of one like she did when she was truly angry. _**Maybe.**_ He could work with maybe.


End file.
